Mike Fatig has become vice president-business development in the Defense and Space Systems Div. of EMS Technologies Inc. of Atlanta. He was director of sales for Honeywell's space digital electronics, guidance and navigation, and pointing and momentum-control systems.
Kwatsi Alibaruho is one of nine new flight directors at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston. He was group lead of the Space Station Life Support Systems Group.
The four-week old anti-Japanese demonstrations in China have prompted 5,500 Japanese passengers on Japan Airlines flights and 5,000 on All Nippon Airways flights to cancel their reservations. Most are tourists who opted for trips to Taiwan or Southeast Asia.
Global passenger growth reached 9.4% in the first quarter of 2005 with load factors of 73.7%, according to the International Air Transport Assn. And load factors in North America were even higher, at 81%. But IATA Director General/CEO Giovanni Bisignani says with oil selling in the range of $50 per barrel, airlines "are a long way from profitability." Capacity expansion did not keep pace with traffic growth during the quarter, which is why load factors climbed. The fuel bill for the world's airlines rose to $63 billion from $44 billion in 2003.
The next three years are critical for the Airborne Laser program, as prime contractor Boeing prepares to install the multimegawatt-class laser components onto a modified 747-400 freighter and flight test the boost-phase missile defense technology.
The A380 is likely to be back in the air this week following an auspicious inaugural flight Apr. 27, with the test program expected to rapidly gain momentum.
The Missile Defense Agency is feverishly developing an array of technologies to intercept missiles headed for the U.S., although the Bush administration appears to have backed off of its grandiose plans to quickly pronounce the high-profile, ground-based, U.S. missile defense shield operational.
As Airbus glows with the first flight success of its impressively big A380, the fuel-efficiency and technology campaigns Boeing has mounted for its mid-sized jet families are scoring impressive sales. Most attention is paid to the differences in size between their new widebody aircraft. Airbus has concentrated its development money on a 555-seat double-decker to serve the world's major hub airports. Boeing says the future is in bypassing congested hubs with long-range, point-to-point mid-sized jets.
All Nippon Airways reported $11.6 billion in revenue for fiscal 2004 with a consolidated net profit of $245 million, second-best in its history. The returns represent a 6.2% yearly improvement in revenue and 9% in profits. International traffic hit an all-time high of $1.9 billion, up 19%, making the ANA's first profit on international operations since it began offering them in 1986. Domestic revenue showed a 2.2% increase. Capacity rose 2.3%.
Electronics company Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL), owned by the Indian government, recorded a more than $99-million profit after tax on an asset turnover of $750 million for the financial year ending March 2005. Defense earnings accounted for 85% of the turnover.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is going ahead with plans to deploy its new and improved computerized air passenger screening system in August, despite a critical congressional report. Justin Oberman, head of the passenger identification system project, known as Secure Flight, says the first two U.S. airlines to participate will be selected "in the next several days." One will have experience submitting passenger names from overseas flights to U.S. Customs officials. The other will fly only domestic runs.
Winston Mahabir has become director of market intelligence for Garrett Piedmont Hawthorne/Associated, Tempe, Ariz. He was director of international marketing strategies for Gulfstream Aerospace and a marketing consultant to the Avocet Light Aircraft Group.
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The Air Force will beef up its reconnaissance forces in the Pacific Ocean by basing a squadron of Global Hawk UAVs in Guam by 2008-09, says Gen. Paul Hester, chief of Pacific Air Forces. The Global Hawks will be modified with a maritime surveillance package for monitoring ship traffic through key choke points like the Malacca Strait near Singapore. Hester says the U.S. is getting worried about China's move to develop an over-the-horizon reconnaissance capability--to see the movement of ships and aircraft up to 1,000 mi.
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NASA will delay the shuttle Discovery's launch to no earlier than about July 13 and roll the orbiter back to the Vehicle Assembly Building sometime this month, where it will likely be restacked on the external tank and solid rocket boosters originally planned for Atlantis' return-to-flight mission. That will enable NASA to fly the Discovery mission with an external tank more easily equipped with oxygen feed line bellows heaters to counter ice debris problems (AW&ST Apr. 25, p. 49).
Erik Dahmen has been appointed Amsterdam-based managing director for Europe and the Middle East for BCI Aircraft Leasing Inc. He was commercial director of Oasis Leasing in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Boeing is developing an elaborate relay mirror prototype to extend the range of laser weapons against ground targets--like mobile missile erectors--or against incoming ballistic missiles. The mirrors hearken back to ideas in the Reagan-era Strategic Defense Initiative, the first large-scale effort by the U.S. to build a missile defense shield.
Former NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe, who is now chancellor of Louisiana State University and A&M College, has been appointed to the board of directors of the Sensis Corp., Dewitt, N.Y.
Douglas Barrie (London), Michael A. Taverna and Robert Wall (Paris)
European airlift programs are hitting turbulence as procurement falters and development efforts encounter weight problems. In Britain, budgetary constraints are shackling ambitions to bolster airlift capability, despite its importance to the U.K.'s expeditionary warfare capability. Meanwhile, the Airbus Military A400M airlifter is coming in at a higher-than-expected weight, forcing designers to embark on a diet for the pan-European transport.
By embarking on a deliberate and some say cautious development approach, officials working on the sea-based missile defense system appear intent on proving that the high-profile failures of the land-based interceptor systems aren't the norm for the Missile Defense Agency (MDA).
Steve Norgaard has become vice president-manufacturing operations of nLight, Vancouver, Wash. He was regional quality director of Applied Materials Inc.
Emirates Group reported its 17th consecutive year of profitability--with net profits of $708 million for the year ending Mar. 31--a 49% increase compared with the 2003-04 period. Year-over-year, airline profits rose 49%, to $637 million. Its cargo division carried a record 925.9 tons of freight, an increase of about 27%, and earned $940 million in cargo revenue, a 43% jump.
